The girl’s mouth continues to move, but I don’t hear any of the words she says. My mind repeats the words she says over and over.
Charlotte has been found dead.
How is she dead? She was just alive and chattering minutes earlier.
Maybe the girl is just kidding. That has to be it. It’s just a joke. The people of the Unknown do seem to have a lot of fun and do a lot of joking around. This is one of those pranks. Charlotte will walk in the Eating Room any second now, giggling away.
People are running out of the Eating Hall, terror printed across their face. It’s a good thing she’s not really dead, otherwise all these people would have a real reason to be terrified.
My hearing slowly returns and my ears fill with anxious shouts. Charlotte must be a great actor to still have them convinced. I want to go see Charlotte’s acting myself, but I can’t push my wheelchair by myself, I don’t know how. I wouldn’t risk walking and falling just over some joke.
A different girl enters the desolate Eating Hall. Her eyes frantically scan the room until they land on me. She sprints towards me, “You’re Charlotte’s Rivie, right?”
I nod, unsure of why she’s asking. Does she want me to participate in the joke as well?
She grabs the handles of my wheelchair and hurriedly pushes me out of the room. Dazed and shouting people pack the halls. The girl pushes through them, using mostly my wheelchair as an excuse. We break through the crowd and my hand flies to my mouth.
The crowd has formed a ring around Charlotte’s collapsed body. She’s made the whole act very convincing. Her arm is pinned beneath her back, as if she tried to stop herself before she hit the ground. Her head is lolled backwards, her eyes still open. I don’t know how she can keep them open for so long without having to blink.
Miranda crouches over her, tears slipping between her eyelashes. Does it bother Charlotte that her joke is causing Miranda to cry? Maybe she’s using it as revenge since Miranda wouldn’t listen to what Charlotte had to say about her spying.
I recognize Harry, the nurse who first was with me when I got to the Unknown. He has his fingers presses against Charlotte’s thin wrist.
Harry takes a deep breath and announces, “There’s no pulse.”
Harry must be in on the joke as well.
Startled cries slip out of people’s mouth. Charlotte is an amazing actor, she still hasn’t blinked yet. How did she manage to make her skin such a pale color? Did she put some type of make-up on herself?
The girl who pushed me here hesitantly says, “Miranda? I, uh, have the Rivie that Charlotte was with…”
Miranda turns to me, wiping away her tears. “Why weren’t you with Charlotte?”
YOU ARE READING
274 (Complex Series, #4)
Science Fiction-fourth book in the Complex series- Claire, known to most people only by her Complex number as 274, has always obeyed the Official's rules. You have to, unless you want to be sent away to the Unknown. Until, she meets Marie and everything changes. ...
